Court rules dingo took baby – Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton arrives at Darwin Magistrates Court in February for the fourth inquest into her daughter Azaria's death. A coroner ruled Tuesday, June 12, that a dingo was responsible.

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Photos: Court rules dingo took baby6 photos

Court rules dingo took baby – Azaria Chamberlain was two months old when she disappeared from her family's tent at Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, in August 1980.

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Court rules dingo took baby – A file image of a captive dingo inside an enclosure at the Dingo Discovery and Research Centre in Victoria, Australia. Chamberlain-Creighton long maintained that a dingo took her baby.

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Court rules dingo took baby – Lindy and Michael Chamberlain enter a Sydney court in January 1987. Lindy was sentenced to life in jail in 1982 for her daughter's murder, a conviction that was later quashed.

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Court rules dingo took baby – A fence, thousands of kilometers long, attempts to keep dingoes away from livestock in a file image from 2005.

Outside the court, Chamberlain-Creighton said her family was "relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga.

"We live in a beautiful country but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to be aware of this and take appropriate precautions and not wait for somebody else to do it for them," she added.

The official finding that a dingo -- a type of wild dog -- killed Azaria ends a legal battle that has been fought over four inquests, a murder trial, through Federal and High Court appeals and a judicial inquiry.

Until Tuesday, questions had remained over the cause of Azaria's death, despite a 1988 ruling quashing Chamberlain-Creighton's conviction and life sentence for her daughter's murder.

Turning to address the family directly, Morris said: "Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special and loved daughter and sister Azaria.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Time does not remove the pain and sadness at the death of a child," she added, her voice straining with emotion.

Stuart Tipple, the lawyer who has represented the couple throughout their ordeal, described the atmosphere inside the court as "electric."

"When the coroner extended her sympathy and broke down herself I don't think there were too many dry eyes," he said. When the Chamberlains left the court room they were given a standing ovation, he added, and later outside they were applauded by the waiting press.

"I've never seen that done before. I thought that really indicates how the tide has changed."

Everything changed for Lindy and Michael Chamberlain on the night of August 17, 1980.

Court documents stated, Lindy, then 32, left the campsite barbecue to put her daughter and six-year-old son Aiden to bed in the family tent where her other son, four-year-old Reagan, was already asleep.

According to her testimony, Lindy tucked Azaria into her bassinet before going with Aiden to the car to get some baked beans after he complained that he was hungry.

"There is no doubt that she did return to the barbecue area, accompanied by Aiden and carrying the tin of beans and a tin opener, about five or ten minutes after she had left. She seemed normal and quite composed. No one saw any blood on her clothes or her person," the court documents read.

It was during her absence from the barbecue that the prosecution alleged Chamberlain-Creighton slit her baby's throat with a pair of scissors before hiding the body, possibly in a camera bag. She was alleged to have buried the body later near the campsite with the help of her husband Michael. He was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact in a conviction that was later quashed.